Conditions for a valid email address

[bwv]

Hello Russell, I have a question please on validating an email address. In another thread, you wrote:

Hi,

I don't guarantee that this is perfect, but here's a reasonable attempt at checking for valid email address:

<input type="hidden" name="conditions" value=":#
 #TEST#email ~ /^[a-z0-9_.]+@[a-z0-9_]+\.([a-z0-9_.]+)*[a-z0-9_.]$/i #
 Please enter a valid email address.#">

Hope that helps!

Would you be so kind as to explain where I put this code? I assume it must go into the .html in my email form, but how would I format it for the formail.php script?

Many thanks for your kind assistance, js

[russellr]

Hi,

It's a hidden field so you just add it to your HTML form. Just like "recipients" and "subject".

FormMail interprets it automatically.

[bwv]

Thanks.... so are you suggesting that I merely copy and paste the code into my form and then the script will detect if the email address is not formatted correctly? Is there any other customization of the formail.php script required? As you can tell, I am not a programmer. js

[russellr]

Hi,

Yes. There are a few assumptions:

1. You don't already have a field call "conditions".
2. You're using a version of FormMail that supports conditions (version 2.00 or above).
3. Your form currently works properly with FormMail.

As always, you need to test any change thoroughly.

[mikie]

There is a bug in that email address checking code. Shouldnt the ending of the code be />

[russellr]

Hi,

It's not a "bug" but a question of standards. HTML allows a bare non-paired tag.

XHTML, however, requires an ending tag or "/>" as a shortcut.

We almost always try to write XHTML now, so, yes, I should have written:

<input type="hidden" name="conditions" value=":#
 #TEST#email ~ /^[a-z0-9_.]+@[a-z0-9_]+\.([a-z0-9_.]+)*[a-z0-9_.]$/i #
 Please enter a valid email address.#" />